Summer Scare 13!

A new layout for this penultimate summer scare post

Sep 10, 2025

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On to the fun part:

New layout: I am linking the story titles instead of having the previews to make this post shorter for you.

Just a couple weeks left in summer (or winter for those of you in the southern hemisphere) and heading into the Scary Season! (The Scary Season starts 21 September 2025 at the Autumn Equinox when the official Halloween Season begins.) The thrills and chills keep coming.

Writers: Gather up your tales guaranteed to give readers a shiver. Can include, but doesn’t need to, any or all of the following: ghosts, goblins, things that go bump in the night, maybe a zombie or two, a werewolf, even a wendigo. Readers await you r efforts as they sweat in the heat and crave that chill that only your scary tales can convey.

And, for you readers, rest assured that the writing is ALL done by humans, but not necessarily alive or in one piece!

First, a few folks to note:

Haunts You Later (a lifelong horror obsessive) continues to bring you horror movie reviews.

Brian Schell and team bring you their Horror Weekly.

S.L. Stallings has a whole section devoted to ghost stories. And she’s calling for yours in her chat.

Emerald City Ghosts periodically calls for submissions, so subscribe and follow.

DW Dixon ⚙️⚙️ brings us a list of mystery writers every Monday, and what’s scarier than a mystery?

The Fiction Factory is calling for your spooky stories! (And I will be including them here for just another promotion avenue. Every bit helps.)

E. D. Jones is open for submissions for Write Sinister.

Newton Webb has a new book of macabre tales out!

On to the fiction.

Boowahaha! Quite a Bunch (in no particular order):

Thomas Cargen shows us some of his horrifically good sketches: Sketch Gallery #2

Michael Whelan reveals the cover illustration for Michael Moorcock: STORMBRINGER

Jessica Maison has a new book coming out with a cover design (human created): Monster Cover Reveal!

C. Lee McKenzie has something rotten here: Compost
(inspired by Honeygloom’s post about a plant, Corokia cotoneaster)

The Dread Legacies starts off a chilling tale here: Chapter 1

Wendy Cockcroft delivers the mail—sort of: The Afterlife Files
and lurks in the shadows here: In the Crypt of St. Tepes (featuring a character suggested by @Theo Priestley)

Miguel S. | The Fiction Dealer put up this prompt, and I couldn’t resist contributing a rather eerie tidbit (and so did others): Microdosing Fiction - Come Find Me

Ken Flyingheart presents one you gotta see:
Eyes dead ahead (part one of two) and Eyes dead ahead (part two of two)

Jenna B. Neece brings us another multi-part story:
The Keeper of The Whispering Cup and Quill, Prologue and Ch 1
The Keeper of The Whispering Cup and Quill, Chapter 2 & 3
The Keeper of The Whispering Cup and Quill, Chapter 4 & 5

Jennifer Morrow crams in everything autumn: The Mayor of Fallville

Shawn Brooks joins in with a couple of tales:
Where We Lay Our Heads and The Dead Are a River

Cherrae L. Stuart gets creepy here: 3115 Wicker Street

Colin Devonshire puts forth this short, dark story: Found
and a bit of humor here: Curtains Open

J. Michael Thomas has another entry in this dark series: Dystopian Journal - Entry 8

Saint-Lazare (the literally bare bones writer) shows the horror of calligraphy: Human 5

Leonardo Pasqual Colle joins the fray with these stories:
The White Crow
To My Grandfather
The Dream Maker

Tuxedo Catsaw (love that name) waxing philosophical here:
Closing the Beach: The (Subtler) Horrors of Jaws and a Late Summer Crab Boil
and serves up something—uh, well, different here:
Summer Classics: OG Friday the 13th Movies as Burgers

R. M. Greta has a couple flash fiction tales:
Midweek (Micro) Release: Five Knuckle Shuffle and Boys' Night

Emerald City Ghosts has a new issue out that’s a killer:
Issue 2: Funerals and Graveyards

Mike Kay boxes you in with this tale: Divine Blight

EJ Trask brings a tale that’ll give you a sinking feeling: Black Flag

Scott MacLeod presents a bit of ghost noir: Phantom Pain

FranB revives a vampire trope here: A Vampire Calls

Leigh Parrish presents a short story: Grave Goods

Jane Dougherty did this for Macabre Monday (which got moved to Chat from Notes and virtually disappeared): Mélusine and Elinas

Shane Bzdok was also inspired by Macabre Monday to post this: Gods Eye-roll

Natalie Phillips is up to part 16 in her series, but you can read it all here: Sticky Witch

C.P. Night goes for a night time hike: The Platform

These should keep your thirst for the scary sated until the next update. (If I’ve missed anything from the past week, please let me know and I’ll get it next time.)

More Writers Who Produce Scary (and Sometimes Cute) Stuff (in alphabetical order):

Some writers on here who, as far as I’ve seen, write stories in that scary arena. If I’ve missed adding you here or have tagged you in error, please let me know.

NOTE: Every writer named here has assured me they don’t use AI in any aspect of their writing. I don’t knowingly promote AI-generated junk. Thanks for reading.

A. B. Frank – Victorian Vignettes – Exploring eerie elegance of Gaslamp Horror in Victorian era

Adi Out Here – Turn on the Light – Murder, mystery, sex, romance, sci-fi, horror

Amanda V Shane – Monsters & Mystics – Fantasy, paranormal romance

Andy Futuro – Cyberpunk, horror, dirtbag literature

Brian B Baker – My Head is Unraveling – Horror writer, book reviewer

C. Lee McKenzie – A Weekly Dose of Fiction – Writing for teens and sometimes adults

C.P. Night – C.P. Night’s Myriadu– Science fiction/fantasy

Caroline Barnard-Smith – SwampWitch

Chris J. Franklin – Tales of the Zeitgeist – Contemporary fiction, humor, horror, Science fiction, host of Wednesday House of Haiku

Colin Devonshire – Colin’s Dark Stories

Connor McGwire – Ars Corvi – Gothic, noir

Dungeon Mistress – Dungeon Mistress Chronicles

Emily S Hurricane – The Eye of the Storm – Romance, erotica, horror, gamelit

Ethan Sabatella – Senchas Claideb

FranB – Tales at Twilight – Speculative stories with dark edge, humor

Grace Anderson-Author – Grace’s Spook Show

Haly, the Moonlight Bard ✒️ – Moonlight Bard’s Rhapsody in Realms

James Kenwood – Grim Acres

Jane Dougherty – Jane Doughtery’s Bestiary

Jennifer Morrow – Autumn Lives Here

Jessica Maison – Monster of the Week

John Coon – Strange New Worlds – Science fiction, horror, humor/satire

Ken Flyingheart – Echoes from the Well

Kummer Wolfe – Worlds of Kummer Wolfe ("Oh, by Crom is it human written…")

L.L. Ford – The Trials of Astra

Leigh Parrish – Halcyon Horror

Leonardo Pasqual Colle – darkinkstories

Lyndsey Resnick – Poison Ivy House

M.P. Fitzgerald – Graphomania with M.P. Fitzgerald – Darkly humorous Science fiction & horror

Maximilian Siddell – Mythscape

Michael B. Morgan – AroundSciFi - Read - Imagine - Discover

Mike Kay – A Shadow of Yew

Natalie Phillips – Plotted Out – Cornish fantasy & dark humor

Nick Buchheit – Nick After Normal – Short creative fiction, humor

Nikki | Nocturnal Narrator – Speculative Fiction and Dark Tales | Nocturnal Narrator – Dark speculative fiction, builds interactive worlds to tell strange stories

Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ – Twisting the Myths

R. M. Greta – In a Room

Redd Oscar – ReddOscarWrites – Fantasy, science fiction, and horror

S.L. Stallings – Ghost Stories – Paranormal fiction, tech horror, dystopia

Saint-Lazare , Writer

Sam Bartol – Ghost Notes

Scrawls of Dread – Scrawls of Dread’s Substack

Shane Bzdok – Matte Black – Science fiction, dystopian, horror

The Dread Legacies – Reimagining classic monsters

Theo Priestley – Tales of the Unexpected

Tony Mills – Naughty Bits

Travis Blake – Dracula’s Ghost